Armchair Critic, it is not a matter of what to do with the solar power, but the fact that the fluctuation of the frequency, & amount of power supplied by solar from minute is causing havoc with the control of the grid.

If the frequency drops too low the grid will automatically shut down. If it doesn't lots of bad things will happen to electrical & electronics connected to it.

If the frequency rises too high even worse. Your electrical & electronic gear connected to the grid will burn out. Even much worse, some will go bang, & catch fire, a bit of a pity if you're not there with a hose handy.

If some control is not applied to the amount of rapid variability of solar & thus instability in the grid, expect many breakdowns in transformers, & extensive blackouts.

Aidan & Armchair Critic,

You should get Shadow Minister into your discussion. He's just an engineer and knows all about pumps and electric motors and lots of other boring stuff like that.

Mr. Opinion,

Sorry, I can’t oblige. China virus, China virus, China virus ……….

And, Twiggy is a twit. A clever rich twit, but a twit none the less. What sort of twit invites a Chinaman to a press conference without the Health Minister’s knowledge.

The Chinaman in question proved again that the Chinese have been insulated and brainwashed for too long to know how to behave in the world outside their Communist country.

AC,

I have since learned that 'cut off the panel' deal pertains to those people who have rushed in to install panels at the taxpayers expense; they would't get their added income on top of their big bludge on taxpayers. Tough titty!

ttbn,

You're a hell raiser, I'll give you that.

As for Twiggy, I think you would have to admit though that he is definitely not a dim as he sims.

Misopinionated,

Funny, I didn't know they had ivory towers at TAFE colleges.

I have a brother who was an engineer, a very practical DIY hands-on person, you wouldn't ever come across him in any ivory tower. Strangely enough, he also thinks for himself - an engineer who is also thoughtful.

Early on, he was employed by the Milk Authority of an un-named country to find a way to compress milk to make it more easy to transport. Milk being mainly water, he knew on Day One that it was impossible (Misop.: water can't be compressed; kids learn that early in high school but perhaps they un-learn it in TAFE).

So he did all the deep, academic, run round paperwork, theoretical stuff on the topic (or well around it) for six months before he could find a more satisfying job working for a bus company.

Wow, if you had been appointed, they would have had an wannabe-academic TAFE student who would have fitted right in with a long-term BS make-work role.

I'm puzzled by your adoration for fluffy arts stuff and denigration of anything useful. Are you enrolled in a TAFE Certificate in Irrelevance and Hindsight Studies ? You'll go far.

Joe

Hey Yuyutsu,
Yes we should all practice what we preach, and maximise energy for ourselves;
But if the government is going to carry on about climate change, give incentives to install rooftop solar, including buying it then spilling it then somethings seriously wrong.

Hey Aiden,
"But already the inverters automatically curtail the output when the voltage gets too high, so further action is unnecessary."
I don't want the energy wasted, we should use it.

"But pumping water is not a solution. SA's dams can't be refilled when the water isn't there!"

Change the rules, create a workaround: a foolproof solution.
At the bottom of the big dam, you create a smaller dam, with enough holding capacity to so there is enough to pump back into the bigger dam using up the excess power spilled from the grid;
Now we have the water back.

Hey Hasbeen,

"Armchair Critic, it is not a matter of what to do with the solar power, but the fact that the fluctuation of the frequency, & amount of power supplied by solar from minute is causing havoc with the control of the grid."

As previously mentioned I'm not an electrical engineer.
But if theres more power that needs to be spilled at any particular moment turn more or less pumps on to use that energy and stabilise the grid.

The way I see it power companies will have us spilling the solar power just to create more demand for their coal power which wouldn't be necessary if we used what we had more efficiently in the first place.